中世纪前期英国的地方自治形态

早在中世纪前期，英国的地方统治就不同于封建时代中国式的“官治”，而呈现出一定的自治特性。这一自治特性分别表现为“官民合治”与“民官自治”。无论是哪一种情形，其自治形态都属于“国王监控的地方自治”。这种自治形态真实地反映了王权触角的向下延伸与地方集团对王权的制约，它对于英国地方自治的起步、宪政的发展、市民社会的孕育都产生了深远的影响，是英国成为“地方自治之家”与“宪政之乡”的重要原因所在。

The Local Self-government Morphology in Early Medieval England

The local governance in early medieval England,which embodies the characteristic of the self-government,is dif-ferent from the official governance in feudal China,This self-government morphology can be termed as 'local self-gov-ernment by royal command',which consists of 'official-civil governance'and 'self-government by amateur official'. It iscontrolled by the king and facilitates him to enforce his privilege,and at the same time,it exerts some restrictions uponthe royal power,which has a profound influence on the origin of the local self-government,constitutionalism and civil so-ciety. This self-government morphology explains to a great degree why Britain became the 'home of the local self-govern-ment and constitutionalism'.